


Keep Moving

by PinkHomeSkillet



Category: Flight Rising
Genre: Character stuff and talking, Gen, The City does a lot of stuff for never doing anything
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-27
Updated: 2019-04-27
Packaged: 2020-02-08 11:48:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18622726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PinkHomeSkillet/pseuds/PinkHomeSkillet
Summary: Katsu learns that Walter has zero patience, especially if you're someone around one of his daughters, which prompts Katsu into seeking help even if it's reluctantly.





	1. Keep Moving Pt. 1

Katsu was laying on a couch in the office, trying to get some sleep. That it was full day out was perhaps a testament to how badly almost everyone who lived in that building slept, and they all knew it. If you found someone napping in there you left them well alone as that was probably the only sleep they were going to get for several days.

But he heard a noise, just barely perceptible, and clenched his jaw knowing who that sound belonged to. Light boots on the wooden floor, ones that could be completely silent if they chose to be. “Would you at least,” Katsu started, covering his eye with his arm for a moment. “Have the damn courtesy to announce yourself?” The noise moved over to the table and did not respond, which was about right. He also knew Etzel was annoyed by Walter’s habits, though he would never voice it.

Katsu sat up on the couch glaring at Walter, who had his back to him, getting food from the table. Etzel generally left out non-perishable cooked items and snacks, along with drinks and liquor (the latter mostly for Booker) on a kitchen table in the main living space.“You can’t just show up anywhere you want,” Katsu snapped.

“I can, in fact,” Walter replied, his voice that natural low growl, still not even turning around to look at him.

“Get out.”

“No.” There wasn’t any anger in the tone, aside from the fact that he always sounded vaguely annoyed, but there was a finality to it. That was a warning that if Katsu pushed one more time there would be words exchanged. Walter put some things into his jacket- food, drinks, some small item Katsu didn’t catch.

But he was tired of it. He knew Walter wouldn’t hurt him, not as long as Adeline was upright. “You could at least _thank_ Etzel for-”

“Do you know what your problem is, Katsu?” Walter asked, turning around and looking down at him with a half full glass in his hand. 

“You, right now.”

“I’m everyone’s problem. You’re not special,” Walter said, tossing back the drink and turning to the table to refill the glass. “No, your problem is that you’re angry, and that’s it. That’s all there is to you. You’re angry at people for helping you, you’re angry at the world, you’re angry that everyone treats you with kid gloves.”

“I think I’m allowed to-”

“Everyone’s allowed time to be upset. That time has long passed,” Walter said, turning to him with a much fuller glass in his hand. “You can’t even see that people treat you like you’re made of glass because they’re trying to show you that you’re safe. You’re pushing everyone away, and that’s a goddamn problem.”

“And that’s not what you do?”

“No,” Walter said, walking around behind the couch and Katsu almost involuntarily moved off it and to the coffee table in front of him, knocking several knick knacks and papers from it. “I’m doing my job. Your job is to take over if anything happens to Adeline,” and here he paused, dull green-ringed Plague eyes staring at him. “And you can’t do it.”

“The hell I can’t keep a bunch of overly friendly morons together,” Katsu said, snarling and attempting to stand his ground even as he could feel his hand gripping the side of the table. He was trying not to reach for his knife. That would be a mistake.

“Yeah?” Walter snorted and took a shorter drink from the glass. He glanced at Katsu before looking to a window for a moment, gesturing with his eyes and a nod of his head. There was a bitter sarcasm in the voice now. “Go on, then. Let’s try someone easy. Victoria. Solid farmgirl, right? Now you tell her to do something. Let’s just _imagine_ together how that would go.” Katsu did imagine, for a moment, and the sudden fear that maybe Walter was right was somehow making him even more angry. “What about Cassandra? Or hell, let’s see you deal with The Quarter.”

“So, what, you want me to leave?” Katsu said, teeth still involuntarily bared. He hated how shaky this was making him, how he could hear movement in the kitchen nearby and was calculating if Etzel would be on his side. Walter had not made a move and was just standing there drinking what looked to be cheap whiskey.

“No, you idiot,” Walter said, his voice dropping an octave for a moment, a thing that didn’t seem possible for how low it already was. It was like something dug up from a grave. How the crap did Adeline regularly talk to him? “I want you to get better, because I know goddamn well who this place falls to if you don’t step up.” Walter walked away from the couch and set the glass back on the table. “That’s why I go where I want. Because it always falls back to me. And until that changes you’ll shut up about it or find someone else to do your job.”

Katsu breathed out, trying to get the shakiness and nerves to leave him. “Fine,” he said, wanting to resolve this before Walter irritatingly disappeared again. “What do you suggest I do?”

“Hm,” Walter said, looking back as black smoke curled around him. There was actually the slight twitch of a smile. “Not my area. Stop being angry, Katsu, and start learning how to lead a bunch of anarchists. Bit different from a military, I expect. Or you can decide that you’re not up to the task.”

“Yeah, real helpful you son of a-” Katsu started when Walter vanished. 

\---

Etzel peered into the main room from a crack in the door, keeping it open just slightly, watching the discussion and spinning a small throwing knife in the hand not currently on the door. He wouldn't use it, but like a few around here he preferred a weapon in his hands when things moved even slightly away from the normal friendly ribbing. He also knew without turning around that Peoria was sitting still on the counter, listening.

All in all some of the worst people to have an argument around, he thought. Each of them tended towards two modes, neither of which was conflict diffusion. At least Katsu had made an attempt. 

He kept the door open after Walter had gone, noting that Katsu picked up his jacket from the couch and seemed to be leaving. Etzel turned his head just slightly when he heard Peoria’s quiet footsteps on the floor, her going over to the window. He knew without asking she was looking for Walter and to see where Katsu was going. 

He heard the window open and turned his head fully, seeing Peoria already half out of it, her sandwich partially eaten and left on the counter. She paused. “Katsu’s upset,” she explained. Peoria tended to speak in jerky, halting sentences. “Going to help.”

“Peoria, please satisfy my curiosity,” Etzel said, straightening and still spinning that small knife in his fingers. “In a true argument, I’m guessing you would always be on Walter’s side?”

“Mmph,” she said, tilting her head with a rare smile, one hand on the outside of the building and ready to launch out. “Most times. You?” Etzel shrugged. “Not used to people being on your side. I am.”

“Unless Walter or Jack is involved, yes?”

The smile grew wider. “I’m loyal to friends. You’re a friend. Stop worrying.”

\---

Katsu walked down a cobblestone street, adjusting the collar of his jacket with irritation, the nervous habit of a cigarette already burning. He pretended not to notice the form of Peoria watching him for a moment on a rooftop, then peeling off and disappearing to do something else. 

\---

Jack felt a small rock hit his shoulder and knew without looking up who it was. “I’m busy, Pea,” he said, lifting a crate into his wagon. “I’m always busy, seems like,” he muttered to himself. There was a fine line between doing a job well and being overworked, and Jack liked to ride that one fairly hard. 

Another small rock hit him in the back. “Okay, what?” he asked, turning around and looking up. It might have been strange to anyone with a careful eye that he knew exactly where she’d be on a rooftop nearby, that she was pointing, and that Jack dropped what he was doing with a grunt to see what she was on about, all within the span of a second or two. Really, they just knew each other that well by now, no magic needed.

\---

“Hey, wait up!” Katsu heard Jack call. He stopped with an irritated sigh and waited as asked, listening to the noise of Jack jogging up to him. “Where’s Ade?” he asked, an open smile on his face.

“I don’t need her around all the time,” Katsu said, hearing the annoyance in his own voice.

“Oh, uh,” Jack pulled his head back for a moment. Yeah, Pea was right, something was really bothering him. “Just you two usually walk around together. Where you headed?”

“Not sure,” Katsu said, throwing the cigarette butt on the ground and already lighting another. “Castle, I suppose.”

“Arright, well,” Jack said, trying to come up with an excuse to walk with him and then deciding on a more direct approach. It was his specialty anyway. “Somethin’ bothering you?” he asked and moved forward in the general direction they wanted to head, Katsu following beside him.

“No.”

Jack clamped down on the sigh he was about to make and glanced up to Peoria, who was as usual keeping an eye out from a rooftop. Why’d this have to be his job? “So,” Jack said after a moment, noting how slow they were going. “You ever get that knee looked at?”

“No.”

“Might be worth a-”

“I don’t care about my knee, or my eye, or my arm,” Katsu stopped and snapped, his voice raising slightly as he continued. “Not everyone wants to be a goddamn weapon like Walter, or that idiot Grenfell, or his horrorshow of a kid. Sometimes things just happen, Jack, and that’s the way they are and the way they stay! If you’re so worried about it, why don’t you get your damn _face_ looked at?”

Jack stood frozen and wide-eyed for a moment. “Woooowwwww dude.” Katsu groaned at himself, putting his own face into his hand. “Seriously what the hell’s got you all ate up? You been talking to Walt?” 

“Yeah,” Katsu looked up to the sky, more annoyed that he’d proved Walter’s point than anything. At least he’d snapped at one of the more amiable people which...actually didn’t make him feel much better. “Sorry, I-”

“Hey, look, look at me,” Jack said, pointing to that puzzle-like scarred face he had with two fingers and reaching out for Katsu’s shoulder. He let him take it. “You’d recognise me easy, right?”

“Of course. You’re hard to miss,” Katsu said. He didn’t really mind Jack touching him but was plenty unsure of where this was going.

“Now close your eyes….don’t look at me like that this isn’t a trick, shut your stupid eye,” Jack said, hand still on Katsu’s shoulder. Katsu breathed out and did so. “Okay, now tell me what I look like, eye shut.”

“Red eyes-”

“Nah, you’re cheating from stuff you have memorized. Really try and think of what I look like right this second.”

Katsu stopped a moment, eye shut and tried to envision Jack’s face. It was oddly blurry, like he was trying to see something that was constantly moving. “Scars...white...and orange?” It was somewhat disturbing to think he couldn’t remember the details of a person’s face that he’d known for a while.

“Eye open,” Jack said and Katsu did so. The face came sharply back into focus and was grinning. “See? I get it. Everyone remembers the scars, that’s why I keep ‘em. You ain’t gotta be anything else but what you want, I just wanna help if I can.”

“Jack, you are…” Katsu sighed, deflating somewhat and letting the anger and nerves leave him. “A far more patient person than I deserve.”

“Eh shut up, everyone needs a little somethin’ at times. Gods know I did once. Now what’d he call you an idiot about?” Jack asked, still with a hand on his shoulder and smiling. 

“How’d you know?”

“That’s like, ninety percent of Walt conversations. ‘You’re gonna to die because you’re an idiot, and here’s what you’re being an idiot about’. You gotta kinda look past the exact words with him and get to the overall message.”

“I...” Katsu started, then stopped, trying not to fully collapse into pessimism or frustration. Jack didn’t deserve that. He was a bit thick, and a bit of a thief, but caring you never really doubted him on once he decided you were a friend. “Jack, I have no goddamn idea how to talk to or trust people anymore. And I can’t lead if I can’t do that.”

“Oooohhhh yeah…I can see that I guess,” Jack started, then put his hand to his mouth and furrowed his brow, taking the hand away as he spoke. “Honestly I’m more the dude who can get you stuff. Like an eye? I can get you an eye for Mochi to put back in.”

“No.”

“Well, y’know, think on it,” Jack said, slightly waving the hand and brow still furrowed in thought. “Have you talked to Ade about-”

“Jack, this concerns potentially replacing her, if need be,” Katsu sighed and took a drag of his neglected cigarette. “I don’t want to put that on her, even if I know she wouldn’t mind it.”

“Ah...yeah…” Jack said, looking up and around him for a moment. Katsu thought he just might be looking for Pea again, but his eyes narrowed angrily at something in the distance. “Well if we don’t need Walt, we don’t want Ade, and Nim’s busy with new babies there’s always the other option people turn to.”

“What’s that?”

“Man you really don’t pay attention to people,” Jack said with a smile. “Sparks, dummy.”


	2. Keep Moving Pt. 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a lot of talking. We also check up on Prizma, Jack get some clarification, and Katsu learns a bit.  
> (Also there's a little drinking if that bothers you!)

“Yooooo my dude!” Sparks said, trotting up to Katsu on the street with a smile, the jewelry and adorned scarves she wore clinking together in a noisy jumble. “What we doin’? Jack said you wanted help with somethin’?”

He could never fault her enthusiasm or willingness to help with even the tiniest things, but of course to do so you had to put up with her personality for an extended period of time. He wasn’t very good with that, though he supposed now was the time to learn. “Where is Jack, anyway?” Katsu asked, looking around the sidewalks and buildings for him. Sparks shrugged.

\---

Jack was currently climbing a building. He wasn’t adept at it, but bullheaded determination was firmly seated into him and if he fell Peoria would help out. He finally made it to the top, pulling himself over the eave and crawling up the roof tiles.

Walter watched this with the expression one might have of seeing an especially stupid puppy attempting to get a large stick in through a door. It was slightly amusing and he had no desire to help. Jack had anticipated that. Shitter had left him to die a time or two, after all.

“Yes?” Walter asked as Jack sat on the roof in front of him, breathing out and looking up. “Can I help you?”

They both knew he wouldn’t, not unless it was for someone else. That’s why Jack had to haul his butt up here instead of asking Walt to come down. It would take him all of two seconds and he still wouldn’t do it. “Yeah,” Jack said anyway, looking him in the face. “Why’d you get Katsu upset at replacing Ade?”

“I didn’t ‘get him upset’,” Walter replied, breathing out a stream of smoke and stubbing the cigarette out on the roof. “He needs to learn.”

“Why?” Jack said, red eyes narrowing, and Walter realized this wasn’t about Katsu. Jack got surly about very few people that quickly.

“Let me tell you a story,” Walter started and Jack snorted, looking away from him and growling. Great. He was going to get told something. Again. “A person with nothing and from nothing comes into prominence. She doesn’t ask for it, but she leads her people with kindness and to the best of her ability. They grow together into something bustling and prosperous.” Jack waited, eyes still narrowed and trying not to snarl. “Now you tell me how often that story ends well, especially in Plague, and very especially with that stupid thing they’re voting on.”

“So you think she’s gonna die?” Jack said, the growl raising in his voice. “Not gonna happen, not as long as-”

“Jack, I’m doing all I can to prevent that,” Walter said, startling Jack into silence. Walt was...well…’not a man of feelings’ would be an understatement, and he’d never trusted Jack with anything before. He wasn’t one to forgive or forget. “Everything’s stronger if Katsu is stronger, and we might not be around if something happens, you understand?”

“I guess,” Jack said, letting a breath escape through his lips. “Coulda been less of a jerk about it, though.”

“Mmmm. No.”

“You did it, you know,” Jack said, flopping over to have a seat beside him, intent on resting a few minutes before climbing back down. “You coulda just let her stay in charge of Can Town.”

“I did,” Walter said, nodding. “But we both know who the better option for everyone is, and I own my decisions.”

“Yeah,” Jack said, looking out over the city from this higher vantage point. Things did look smaller and easier from up here. “Guess no one could say otherwise.”

\---

“Okay,” Sparks said, clasping her hands together for a moment in front of her mouth before pointing to him with two fingers. “Gonna level with you here, I don’t know how to fix your personal problems.”

“Yeah, figured,” Katsu said, hand almost involuntarily reaching for the pocket with his cigarettes. No, no, he could go a few damn minutes without that. “Anyway, it's been fu-”

“Now hold up,” she said, raising a hand to pause him. “You wanna learn how to talk to and trust people, right? Why don’t we just practice with a few? There’s tons of people who don’t mind bad conversation around here. Hemwick? Bam, take you three minutes. Dude’s like a puppy.” He put a hand slowly to his face and Sparks realized it wasn’t just about that. “Right. Getting a handle on us….” She paused and thought, as that definitely wasn’t her area. In fact she tended to be on the opposite end. “You know what, I think there is a person we should talk to.”

\---

The Night Life bar wasn’t a place he tended to go, though it was odd that it always seemed the same- dark, slightly smoky no matter how many or few people were in there, made of well tended wood with a lacquered bar, behind which stood a tall and somewhat regal woman with long black hair. The place hadn’t changed a bit since he’d been there, and from he’d heard from others it hadn’t changed since it’d been built. There was some comfort in that.

“Didn’t think you drank,” Prizma said from behind the bar, the few people at tables and stools glancing up before going back to what they were doing, Katsu taking a seat in front of her as Sparks did a small wave in greeting.

“I don’t,” he replied. “Not a habit I want to start.”

“Don’t blame you,” Prizma inclined her head before turning around and pouring something anyway. He was about to argue as she turned back, putting a glass of something with sprigs of mint leaves in from of him, and another drink on front of Sparks, but Sparks touched his shoulder. Weird how that would make his skin crawl unless it was certain people that did it, he thought as he took a sip from the glass. Mint lemonade. “So, what can I do for you then? Didn’t come all this way for the company.”

“Actually kinda did,” Sparks said, Katsu noting with a slight bit of trepidation that her smaller glass was already half empty. “Priz, why do we like Ade?”

Prizma actually looked puzzled for a moment, a rare thing indeed, glancing to Katsu to read him for more information. “Easy to answer, isn’t it? Solid, reliable, trustworthy, a good person. If she asks me for something I know it's probably for someone else, or for all of us. Speaking of…” Prizma paused and fished under the bar for something, coming up with a folded paper. “Get this to Viltri, will you?” She asked, handing it to Sparks, who took it and stuffed it into her bra.

“Will do,” Sparks said, giving a thumbs up.

“You are not voting yes on that stupid thing,” Katsu said, fishing for a cigarette and tilting his head in annoyance. He’d thought Prizma was one of the few level-headed Can Towners.

“Listen,” Prizma said, pulling a stool underneath her and leaning with an elbow on the counter to be more level with him. “I don’t know what this is about, but a few years ago we asked her to do something we had no right to. She was a wanderer who stayed of her own accord because she was good enough to want to keep us together. You know how many little towns get buried or broken up, how we should have gotten wise and left this place to the monsters? Well we didn’t leave and we didn’t get run over thanks to some wastelander. Then we asked her to argue with Walter of all damn people when there was no way we coulda backed her if things went south. And she did it anyway. So yeah, I’m gonna force her to take a little credit for herself.”

“I woulda tried to back her,” Sparks said, setting down her now empty glass. “I woulda gotten my whole crap pushed in by Jack and Pea but I woulda tried.” Prizma nodded and took her glass to refill. 

“You really think Jack would have…?” Katsu said, leaving the implications. Peoria he could understand flipping the switch from ‘nice, quiet person’ to something else.

“Yeah,” Sparks nodded, taking the glass that Prizma set down in front her. “Yeeeeaaahhhh….I mean we’re buds now, obviously.”

“So, great,” Katsu said, looking at his own barely touched drink and remembering why they were there with a short exhale. “Guess I need to have a history with everyone and basically be perfect. Easy.”

Prima snorted and gave a short chuckle. “Perfect? Nah. I love Ade but she don’t change easy. Girl has an in-house cook good enough to rival the best and she’ll say things like ‘I don’t mind eatin’ the stuff no one else wants’ because she’s still in that survival mindset. Hell, Etzel said he had to secret away all her trash clothes and burn ‘em just so she’d stop wearin’ ‘em. That red coat she's got is Walt’s old one because she won’t buy things for herself no matter how much money we got.”

“I think Walt’s secretly proud of that,” Sparks said, tilting the drink back. Katsu realized he should probably be worried about what was in those and how quickly she was putting them away. 

Prizma nodded at her before looking to Katsu. “So you’re both stubborn people stuck in an old mindset. You lookin’ to get out?”

“Guess I am,” he replied.

“Good,” Prizma said, giving a short nod of her head. “Though if you're looking to step up, might want to start working on West now before he takes offense later.” 

“West and I get along fine,” Katsu said, causing Prizma and Sparks to share a knowing look. “...or not?”

“He's…” Sparks said, looking up at the ceiling and willing her thoughts to form into actual words. That was getting difficult. “He can get kinda intense about keeping our little group of nerds together. Things take a while with him, but once somethings in there it's deep, y'know? Don't want him feeling out of the loop.”

\---

“Katssuuuuuu…” Sparks said, walking beside him and nuzzling against his shoulder like an affectionate cat. They were making their way to the Workshop towards what he was sure was going to be a trash fire of a conversation. “Katsu, I love you.”

“Thanks,” he replied. Did Prizma do that on purpose? She had to know that Sparks wasn’t one to take things at a reasonable pace.

“Do you love me? Or anyone else? Oooh that's what we should do! Is there anyone you wanna hook up with?” She asked, brightening up and looking him in the face. “Lemme get someone for you, Kaaattt.”

“Sparks,” he said, stopping and looking back down at her. “I'm not interested in anyone,” he raised what was remaining of his left arm, cut off right near the elbow, hidden somewhat by his coat but obviously missing. “That kind of thing didn't end well last time, understand?” Her face moved into something between confusion and concern, him feeling some relief at having spoken about things mixed with embarrassment. 

“Kat,” she said with a sudden tonal shift, taking the collar of his jacket in one hand. “Who do I gotta kill?”

“What?”

“Who. Do. I. Have. To. Kill. Katsu?” she asked, impressing upon him the seriousness of which she was taking this by locking eyes with him. “Where they at? They in Ice? What part? North? South? Gimmie coordinates and a description.”

“They…” he paused. Weird. Despite being the person who should probably never be trusted with secrets because she would yell them at full volume, she was rather easy to talk to. Maybe it was just because you never felt judged. “They aren’t anywhere, anymore.”

“Okay, good,” Sparks said with a nod and released him. “I woulda done it, y’know.”

“I know.”

\---

Sparks was standing outside the door to the Workshop, the main garage door out front closed as West was thankfully the only one inside. She’d given Katsu some advice but was still resisting the urge to crack open the door so she could listen in better. 

“What can I help you with?” West asked Katsu, who looked over his shoulder for a moment to make sure she wasn’t doing just that. West was seated at a table and seemed to be working on something made of...string? No, that was wire, and judging by the marred plank of wood next to him that had been stood up, the wire was meant to slice into something.

Katsu realized as he sat across from the man, those yellow eyes bright even behind his sunglasses, that they’d never talked about anything but work and Katsu had never been interested in what exactly made West tick. He’d always been Ade’s problem. “What are you working on?” he asked.

West, in answer, tossed the loop of wire over the plank of wood. It retracted, pulled by a small motor and constricted enough to bite into it at least an inch. “Just a little something,” West said.

“Is that goddamn automatic garrote wire?” Katsu asked, staring at the invention and realizing he’d never seen West make something that wasn't meant to kill unless he was working with the rest of the group. 

West nodded. “Again- how can I help you?” he said, then tilted his head slightly with a smile. “Or is this a personal visit?”

“I think we’ve been through that spiel enough for you to know that it isn’t,” Katsu replied, tapping his fingers against the chair as a replacement for going for a cigarette.

“Then I’m confused,” West said, leaning forward with elbows on the table and chin on folded hands. “I believe our last attempt at conversation ended when you said that I was ‘A narcissistic prick that uses and discards people like tissues’. Has something changed?”

Katsu felt his hand slowly cover his face from chin up as a thought dawned on him. “You ever realize...that you’re kinda like someone that you hate?” He asked from behind the hand.

“Not one of my various issues, no,” West said, still assessing him and the situation. Of all the people to talk to about personal problems, he would put himself on the bottom of the list, and not out of any pride. West knew his own faults quite well. “Who are you thinking of?”

“Walter.”

West leaned back into his chair and thought for a moment. “Yes, I can see that. Hate seems a little strong, though.”

“All emotions are ‘a little strong’ for you,” Katsu snapped, and then realized he did it again. “Eh, gods, can’t even have a conversation. Sorry.”

“Oddly enough I don’t take offense,” West said, looking back at him with a small grin. “Seems I’m mostly unable to...but I doubt you came to me to talk this out. Unless you want to do something about Walter?”

Katsu’s head shot up and he quickly looked over the other man. It was impossible to tell if he was serious- West’s face was nearly always blank, his posture relaxed, his eyes with little warmth or change. “No,” he said, putting that whole conversation away as quickly as possible. “Seems I’m trying to actually take my position as Ade’s second seriously, especially if you-” he cut himself off from saying ‘morons’ and searched for another word. “-guys decide to follow through on that vote.”

“We very much are,” West said, crossing his legs and clasping his hands together, eyes not leaving Katsu. “Odd that you’ve decided this now.”

Katsu clenched his jaw, head tilting at the realization of what West was thinking. “I’m not planning a coup you goddamn paranoiac.”

“Bit rich coming from you,” West said, pausing for a moment before bobbing his head. “Though not unfair. You would know who I’m loyal to, after all, and if you were thinking of something like that the absolute last place you would want to ask me would be on my turf.” The corner of his mouth twitched up for a moment. “You’re a lot of things, but not an idiot.”

“Yeah,” Katsu said, glancing around the shop. It seemed fairly normal- chaotic workstations, parts, wires everywhere, lights and tools slung around seemingly at random. There wasn’t a hint of an actual weapon that was in one piece, but he knew that didn’t much matter when West and Grenfell were involved. “I’m guessing you have a way to put this place on lockdown?”

“That I do,” West replied. “So please forgive my paranoia- Ade and Sparks get defensive of anyone they’ve known for five minutes, and that kind instinct isn’t always rewarded. I like keeping an eye on things for them just in case.”

“Same here,” Katsu said, fishing the cigarette pack out of his pocket, noting that West hadn’t elaborated on what a lockdown might look like. “Guess this isn’t really about Walter. I don’t want to be who I was and I don’t like who I am now, but I don’t know what a better me looks like or how to get there.”

“I can understand that,” West said, watching him light the cigarette and wondering if he should tell him to put it out. West disliked the smell of those things, but they were actually managing to get along. “I hated my old life, and I know currently that I can be…difficult, but I don’t want to lose that completely. Our friends could use that every once in a while, after all.”

Katsu grinned. “‘Hate’ seems a little strong.”

“It’s one of the few emotions I’m decent at, thank you. And I think you’ll be fine with whoever you decide to be. It's always one step at a time.”


End file.
